UrW winter
Winter lasts from November 1 through March 30. It is an accurate simulation of winter in the real world: long, cold, and boring. It is also the most dangerous part of the year. =Dangers of winter= Cold Cold is the most pressing danger during the winter. On the coldest days you may catch UrW_frostbite after just an hour in the wilderness. If you don't have a stockpile or ready source of fuel for your fire, you're in trouble. Starvation Crops and wild plants don't grow during the winter, many animals leave the area, and hunting the animals that stay behind is more difficult due to the cold. If you don't have a reliable source of food and didn't gather enough during the warmer months, you're in trouble Darkness It's darker during a winter night than at any other time. You can't even see into adjacent squares without a fire or a source of light. This can be fatal if you're in the wilderness and can't see to cut down a tree for firewood. Try to avoid this. If it does happen and you can't make it to your camp or a UrW_village, walk around carefully and check the ground for fallen UrW_tree trunks or UrW_slender trunks. You can't cut down UrW_trees in the dark but you can set fire to one that has already fallen. Boredom The greatest danger of all. Travel is tedious and risky on the coldest days, so you'll probably spend a lot of time in your camp or in a nearby village. Being homebound for the greater part of five months can encourage you to abandon a character in favor of a new start in spring. It can also encourage you to take suicidal risks or slaughter a village just to have something to do. =Advantages of winter= Mobility While traveling long distances in winter is risky, it can actually be quicker than it is during the other seasons. With a set of UrW_skis and a UrW_ski stick you can travel at running speed while getting fatigued much less quickly. And when the lakes and rivers freeze over, shortcuts and new paths become open to you without needing to haul around a UrW_raft or UrW_punt. Note that you can't use watercraft while the lakes and rivers are frozen. Food preservation While the UrW_temperature is below the freezing point, food and skins that are kept away from a fire will not spoil. Be cautious when storing your food outside; there are a few warm days during winter and your food can still go bad. Winter weather is also good for drying meat and fish. Snow You can eat snow to quench your thirst anywhere outside. No more irritating trips back to the lake or carrying tubs of water. =Surviving= Necessary equipment for travel * At least one layer of warm clothing (preferably UrW_fur or UrW_wool) over every part of the body. Two or three layers is much better. * UrW_Skis and a UrW_ski stick or UrW_northern spear. * An axe to cut down small UrW_trees for UrW_fire at night. Staying warm Dress for the occasion. Every layer helps; wear UrW_wool and UrW_fur and even heavy armor until you feel the extra safety isn't worth the extra weight. A UrW_bear fur hood and an iron great helm are especially useful. Those two items give the best warmth your face can get. You can also wear multiple pieces of UrW_fur clothing over the same part of the body if they're from different animals. Check the UrW_fur page for more information. Mind the UrW_temperature. When the gauge is slightly below the freezing point, you can get by easily as long as you're careful. When it's 3/4 full, exercise more caution. When it's half full, you have around two hours of time away from the fire before frostbite sets in. When it's 1/4 full or less that becomes closer to one hour. You have more time if you wear more than two layers of warm clothing, less time if you wear fewer. Always sleep next to a warm UrW_fireplace or a well-fueled UrW_fire. While traveling you can either make a fire for the night with three or more UrW_slender trunks or make a fire with one slender trunk next to a large UrW_tree, use it to keep warm while felling the tree, and move the UrW_tree trunk into the fire. Hoarding If you want to be completely safe, you can hoard enough supplies so that you could pass the winter without needing to leave your camp. This means 150 days worth of food, which is roughly *50 bags of flour or *200 pounds of bread or *500 pounds of meat, more if it's from a less nutritious animal like a UrW_fox or a UrW_dog, less if it's a from a delicious UrW_pig, or *800 pounds of fish, 300 if it's UrW_trout or UrW_salmon Domesticated animals are a great source of food. Buy a UrW_pig or a UrW_cow in the warm season. You'll have milk all year and the meat will stay fresh until you need to slaughter the animal. Flour is also useful. It never spoils and UrW_porridge is very nourishing, though you will need to cut a hole in the ice to get water. You will also need enough fuel to keep warm. Here are the rough burn times of various fuels: *A UrW_tree trunk will burn for almost a day and a half. *One UrW_slender trunk will burn for about three and a half hours. *One UrW_block of wood will burn for slightly less than three hours. *22-23 pieces (one block worth) of UrW_firewood will burn for slightly more than three hours. A fireplace needs to be lit at most once a day to stay warm. This means that if you have one, UrW_firewood is the easiest way to make it through the winter. To light a fireplace you need at least four pieces of firewood. 600 pieces of firewood can get you through the winter; you can get this from four UrW_tree trunks. If you want to build fires to work outside or warm yourself to Hot or Sweaty, you need more. Trapping While hunting is more difficult in the winter, trapping is almost as easy as it is in the warm season. Animals are scarcer but you can still catch dinner. A trap fence near your camp is easy to check and can actually make you richer at the end of winter than you were at the start. And just a UrW_trap pit or two right next to your camp can bring in food. For some reason UrW_elk love to run around camps and die on wooden stakes. Building traps during winter is a good way to stave off boredom. Doing it in your camp will generally cost you firewood, but doing it in the wilderness is surprisingly easy. Set fire to a trunk and get to work. With the right placement, you only have to cut down one tree per five squares of trap fence. . . T . x T O x T . x T . . T Where O is the fire, T is a trap or UrW_fence, and x is where the character can stand. Make sure to stay warm while cutting and moving the trunks. Fishing If your UrW_fishing skill is around 60% or higher or you know the UrW_Fisher's Request For A Catch ritual, ice fishing can see you through the winter. It works best if you can stand on a square heated by a UrW_fireplace while you do it. Expect to catch roughly 1.5 to 2 days worth of fish for each day spent fishing if you have enough skill, more if you use multiple nets. Be sure to stay warm while cutting a hole in the ice. Fighting the dullness Five months is a long time. Getting to the spring is much more bearable if you have something to pass the time. Here are some tips. *Stockpile scrap clothing and hide to make UrW_cord. You can never have enough of that stuff. *If you use bows, gather enough UrW_cord and UrW_rocks to make UrW_arrows. These take a long time to craft, so you might as well do it when doing other things is a pain. The same goes for UrW_slender trunks and UrW_javelins. *Build traps in areas close to home. This also provides food plus amusement if you can lure a UrW_Njerpez into one of them. *Go UrW_bear hunting if you haven't bagged one yet. Bear UrW_fur clothing is quite warm and is the best armor you can make on your own. Check UrW_caves in early to mid winter, but watch out for UrW_lynxes. Ranged weapons and/or UrW_dogs are highly recommended. *If have UrW_skis and you're feeling confident in your skills and equipment, rain death on a nearby UrW_Njerpez camp. In the winter you might be as fast as they are. This can give you plenty of material for making UrW_cord, but it can also fall into the category of "suicidal risks inspired by boredom". Make sure the temperature isn't above freezing before you do this. If it gets too warm, your UrW_skis can bog you down and the Njerpez can overwhelm you. *I could recommend putting a UrW_village to the torch, but if you feel like doing that you're probably already doing it year round.